Sitting. Wet plate Portrait Session with Emma Brown.

Magdalene Celeste and Rose the Fashion dog had the pleasure of sitting for a wet plate collodian portrait by photographer Emma Brown at Watts Gallery. Some thoughts on why I adore wet plate photography and a summary of the session await you below.

Magdalene Celeste, Rose the Fashion Dog and enjoyed a TinType photography portrait session with Emma Brown at the Watt’s gallery in October. This is my third session, the first with Kasia Wosniak in my 20s where I learnt about the process and Nicolas Laborie where I sat as ‘Major Drew’.

THE WET COLLODION PROCESS.

The wet plate collodion process is an early photographic technique from the 1850s. It involves coating a glass or metal plate with a mixture of collodion (a sticky, syrup-like substance) and light-sensitive chemicals. The plate is exposed in a camera while still wet, then quickly developed in a darkroom. This method produces a unique, high-detail image, but it requires precision and speed, as the plate must stay wet during the entire process. It's valued for its rich tonal range.

One of the truly magical parts of the process is that it Not only does the exposure capture white light, but also captures UV light. This means it picks up things like freckles really clearly which adds a truly unique element to the portraits produced with this method.

About Emma Brown.

An award-winning visual storyteller, Emma is reknown for her exceptional work with the Sahrawi refugee community in the Algerian Sahara. Emma brings her keen eye for detail and a unique perspective to each of her collaborations - focusing on working with Creative Agencies, Ethical Brands, Charities, NGOs, Artists, Makers, Arts Organisations & more.

Specialising in working with the vintage Wet Plate Collodion process, Emma can be found with her travelling darkroom in the back of the car shooting tintypes & ambrotypes on the road or in her pop-up studio. Utilising large format cameras and embracing the slow pace the process demands as an antidote to the hectic pace of our everyday lives.

A passionate PhotoVoice trained educator and facilitator, Emma has led photography workshops with, (amongst others) unaccompanied minor refugees at Play for Progress (UK), students at Half Moon Young People’s Theatre (UK) and activists at Yerevan’s Feminist Library (Armenia). Since 2017 she has been mentoring a group of young photographers in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps (Algeria) and has also co-facilitated the first ‘PhotoAct’ intensive for Anamuh Arts (Hungary) which brings together PhotoVoice and Theatre of the Oppressed methodologies, in a training for Youth Workers from all over Europe

The Session.

I truly adore the process of sitting for wet plate portraits. There’s something incredibly magical about the process that enchants the wonder that must have been felt when the techniques where first developed. In previous years there was a belief that having a photograph taken ‘stole’ your soul, and I can understand how the combination of art and chemistry could have been viewed this way. The complexity of the process, slowness and inbuilt risk of failure and success make it a truly unique experience I recommend everyone should try

Try it for yourself!

Emma will be opening her photography studio again from 8-10th November 2024 at The Watts gallery.

I highly recommend booking a session!